[ AUTHOR'S NOTE: I changed up the part in the last chapter about where Vienna knocks over Jackie's bike and they were intially surrounded by big, bad motorcycle dudes - I took that all out, so it never happened :) now they're just walking on the side of the road to wichita falls ]
[ seventeen ] -
warning: unedited!
tuesday - three days until graduation
We'd been walking on the side of the road for about an hour.
Unlike our walking episode in Tennesse where we were surrounded by corn, this time in Oklahoma, we had to keep on the narrow strip of sidewalk separating the rolling green countryside with cars and sixteen wheelers. Like the gentleman Elliot probably was inside, he walked on the side closest to the rumbling fast highway, while I dragged the soles of my feet in the dirt and grass.
We came up with a plan about a few blocks back. We'd start walking to Wichita Falls, which was about an hour away from Lindsay, Oklahoma, where we currently stood. Since Elliot had family there, maybe we could find a place to sleep and hopefully not spend the night on the side of the road. If we kept on walking west, we'd eventually Texas at one point and go on from there.
It wasn't the best plan in the world, and it surely wasn't the easiest, but at this point, I was fed up and just wanted to do all that I could in my power to help Elliot as much as he had helped me. But it was hard to keep away from thinking that if our Range Rover hadn't gotten stolen, we might have crossed into Nevada by now.
"This is fun," Elliot suddenly said. Leave it to him to scrape up even the remote possibility of being positive during a time like this.
"Seriously?"
"Think about it, when was the last time you really got to see the United States? The land of the free and the brave?" he started rambling. "I think Oklahoma is beautiful. And just look at that morning sun. I don't know about you, but aside from all the walking and run-ins with the law, I could get used to this."
He was right. If I was correct, it was about seven or eight in the morning and the sky looked like someone digested pink, gold, and orange paint and threw it up on the sky to compliment the rising sun peeking in through the trees. There was something about Lindsay Oklahoma that was different. Even beside a bustling highway, time seemed to move slowly in the morning. We'd passed different barns and fenced pastures with horses and cows grazing, and I had never seen farms in person. I had rarely even made it out of California to go to North Carolina with my mom's permission. I had lived in a place where skyscrapers and urbanity went rampant and pollution ran wild.
It was beautiful, and as usual, I was taking advantage of it.
"You're right. I just – I'm too caught up with this deadline, that's all," I admitted, closing my eyes and breathing in the crisp, fresh morning air of the country.
Elliot was silent before saying, "What college were you planning on going to?"
Suddenly, the question knocked me off balance. "I don't know. I haven't really thought about it."
"You mean, you haven't applied anywhere and your graduation is in three days?" he blinked at me.
"Of course not, I applied to a ton of schools." Seventeen, actually. I was intent on getting to go to college like it depended on my life.
"And? Where'd you get accepted?"
I shrugged. "Only to a few. A couple small colleges around Los Angeles, but not to Stanford," I told him, my heart sinking when I had gotten the letter from Stanford Admissions Offices that I wasn't one of the lucky few.
Elliot kicked a pebble in front of us, frowning sympathetically.
"Stanford's not that great anyway," he lied. But at least he lied to spare me. "So is that why you're always freaking out? To go to college?"
"I know college isn't a bright, shiny place where teens lose their virginity, gain their impendence and have parties every other hour of the day like the movies," I kicked Elliot's pebble ahead of us, "but I just don't want to spend another day in my house."
"That bad, huh?"
"Not bad. Just suffocating."
"Won't your mom miss you?" he pressed.
"Doubtful. She has her new husband, Jason to keep her happy." In ways my father never could. That's why she kicked him to the curb like week-old trash.
For a minute, I thought I gained a break from his questions. Until he started to talk again.
"What about your dad? I thought you said your dad told you that life was a cul-de-sac and that it's pointless to run away," he cleverly retorted at me.
I sighed as he kicks the pebble when we reach it and we start a game of 'Who Can Keep the Pebble Going'. "Well look who has a memorizing talent. I'm not running away when I go to college, I'm living a new life." I didn't answer the part about my dad. I didn't want him to know. I didn't want to be the one to hear it out loud that I didn't know where my father was or if he was even still alive. It was gnawing thing that I refused to say.
"Sounds a lot like running away to me."
I kicked the pebble hard this time, so hard that it flew dangerously into the road and was sputtered away by a tire of an oncoming car. Goodbye faithful pebble and my only source of distraction away from Elliot's too-deep questions.
"You lost," I simply said to him, walking faster.
But inside, I knew he was right. Was I really running away? It sounded pathetic, but the only reason I wanted to go to a good college was the distance situation. To get away from my hovering mother who never asked me if I wanted another man to replace my father; who never asked me if she wanted to become pregnant with my new baby sister/brother/alien; who never asked me if she wanted to ruin my life. It may be dramatic, but ever since I was little, I exaggerated my problems a bit more than others so that the resolutions could be bigger.
And college was my resolution. It was my big, shiny escape method. But I couldn't get away if I didn't obtain a high school diploma – which I was dangerously close to losing.
"What about you?" I started, desperate for a distraction away from my exhaustion. "You lucky Stanford student."
He chuckled. "Stanford is fine. Parents are fine."
"Love life?" I asked before biting my tongue but realizing it was too late. I had let another impulsive thing slip away from me without thinking over it first, and I knew this conversation probably wouldn't end well.
But if he was bothered, he was a good actor. His face didn't fall, he didn't become rigid, he didn't try to shrug away the question.
"Samantha," he nodded. "You know her. At least, I know you know her name."
"I—Elliot--,"
"No, I can talk about her without sobbing into a fetal position, don't worry," he reassured me, slapping on a fake, weakening smile that took him an effort to uphold. "Samantha's my girlfriend."
His girlfriend. For a passing, fleeting second, I allowed myself to become envious. But at what point? Was there ever a time when I had wanted Elliot to myself?
Yes. I didn't bother lying to my inner conscience who knew me better than I did. Many times, actually. I was going to have to apologize to Samantha for eyeing her boyfriend. But I didn't know. I didn't know.
His eyes naturally veered to the ground, but he later kept them straight ahead, his hands in his pockets. "We've been together since senior year. I'm an incredibly lucky guy, honestly. I always thought she was ashamed to be seen with me, the captain of the debate team. Royalty – that was what she was. Or at least, that was what she was always shown herself as in high school. I guess everyone has walls," he finished the sentence quietly, smiling to himself before it was wiped off of his face completely.
He found another pebble this time and kicked it.
"She—She got into a car accident a couple of days ago, except, she wasn't in a car, the driver who hit her was. Her called me when you first saw me in that dingy hotel in North Carolina," he tried to fight the choking of his voice, turning to stare at the brightening sky, "She was volunteering for a little elementary school. She wants to become a teacher. She's lovely. And beautiful. And one day, that day, this little kid dashed into the road to grab a ball during recess or whatever and she went to catch him. The kid's fine, but she took the brunt of the SUV. The driver was a mom. She was too busy dealing with her little kid in the back to see Sam."
I didn't realize I was holding my breath, until Elliot flinched. "Sam took it head-on. She, uh, th-the doctors couldn't stop all the bleeding, but I'm hoping."
"I'm hoping," he said again, more to himself than to me.
My ripped to pieces because I had finally witnessed and heard of the reason why Elliot was always a wreck after those phone calls. The puzzle pieces had fit together perfectly.
"I'll be hoping with you. I'll try not to be a pessimist for you and Sam," I reassured, so faintly that I almost thought he couldn't hear it over the sound of the cars on the highway.
His lips pressed into a thin, thankful grin. Too bad it was a lie. I couldn't be hopeful. I wasn't wired that way. Doubting was a part of my life, and seeing as Elliot was the only bit of company I'd had in the past few days, it was hard to imagine that when this unplanned adventure ended, we probably wouldn't see each other anymore.
Ironically, as a pessimist, I had hoped for a better ending, but he had Samantha.
"And I know it was you who calmed me down during my panic attacks in the truck."
I started to redden quickly, turning away. It was foolish move.
"Thank you, Vienna."
"You're welcome, Elliot," I said sadly.
- x -
We didn't say much after that. We both lacked the energy, and seeing as all of our food and money was stored in our towed truck, we didn't have breakfast. I groaned as we kept walking for what seemed like forever and a day. "I'm so hungry, I could eat that cow."
We were passing a farm, probably the sixteenth one we've seen since we trudged our way from the gas station, and there was a lone, pleasantly plump cow grazing on the grass.
"I'm so hungry I could eat the cow and the grass it's eating," Elliot countered.
We had walked past the farm and into a deserted part of town.
"Where are we, anyway? I'm dying to know if we're actually walking west or going around in circles. I swear, I've seen that same tree before," Elliot muttered.
"We could ask for directions," I offered.
"From who, a cow?"
Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of a building in the distance. Peering closely, I was convinced it wasn't a building anymore, more like a shack with a sloped roof and peeling walls. At least I was relieved it wasn't another gas station. Considering our unfortunate track record with those unlucky shops, gas stations sucked.
"Look, civilization!" I declared. Without thinking, I latched onto Elliot's arm and dragged him away. "Maybe they have directions to Wichita Falls."
He only blinked at me before rolling his eyes and waving me away. "Um, maybe we could ask somewhere else...? Vienna, look at the place. It's a liquor store."
"So? Jeff's place back in Tennessee looked suspicious and we still went in."
"Yeah but Elisa told us who would be there," he argued. "It looks sketchy."
"Sketchy place or not, I'm sure this is the only public place we could ask for anything. There's not much more for a couple of miles besides farms unless, you really do want to ask a cow," I pointed out.
Elliot stepped back and waved for me to go ahead. "Your call. Meanwhile, I think I'm gonna go in those trees back there. I don't want to take my chances in that store bathroom."
"Go? What do you—Oh."
I didn't bother to wait for Elliot to start unzipping his pants as he found a suitable spot. Males. Such animals some times.
I frowned. Elliot was right about the sketchiness – the liquor store was more or less a gray shack with lone fluorescent lights and suspicious looking bottles on dusty shelves.
It wasn't crowded; there were about three guys wandering around looking for beer. In the back, I saw the cashier – a pot-bellied man with gray scruff and a brown stain on his shirt trying to solve a sudoku puzzle.
"Excuse me."
He grunted, lifting his eyes and squinting at me. His greasy hair shone in the fluorescent light.
"You're underage. Scram."
So much for a warm welcome. "I was actually hoping for directions."
He grunted again, and blinked. "I don't have any maps. Just beer and wine and some cheese. You want some cheese?"
"Uh, no thank you," I replied. "I just want to know a way to get to Wichita Falls, Texas."
The man grinned and guffawed, a sickly laughter that turned him into having a coughing fit. "Keep walking west until you see Lawton. Then, ask for a map there."
"Uh, could you at least tell me where I am right now?" I asked.
"Are you stupid or are you just lost?" he asked.
"Lost," I said through gritted teeth. "Lost!"
"No need to yell, Miss Attitude Problem," he scowled, scribbling something on his Sudoku sheet.
Oh. I had an Attitude Problem?
"You're in Lindsay, Oklahoma. You're in my liquor store. And I just told you directions. Now scram!"
I didn't have to be told twice. But before I could get to the door, I bumped into a man who was waiting behind me. "Sorry," I started to apologize.
The man ignored me and instead started screaming at the cashier, who, at the sight of him, flinched and straightened up.
"I want my money now, Derrick!" he roared, not skipping around to the greetings.
"Uh, Jack. Hi. I didn't – uh, think you were going to come back until Tuesday," the plump cashier stuttered, frightened and frozen like a deer in the headlights at the sight of the muscular, tattooed-covered man who seemed intent on getting what he wanted.
I jumped when the Jack guy slammed his fist hard on the counter. "It is Tuesday, you idiot!"
"I-It is? Oh, my. I got lost in the track of time. Uh, mind giving me an extension?" Derrick the cashier gulped, rubbing his hands together.
"This is the last straw, Derrick. I'm fed up with this! I want my damn money."
"I-I don't have it... "
"Then you better have it by tomorrow or I'm burning down this place! I own it, and you don't have the money anyway," Jack hissed.
I knew I had better leave before thing got worse between Jack and Derrick. Karma was always such a character, especially when it targeted the people who did you wrong. And boy, did Derrick get a plateful of it served cold.
I started to leave through the door, waiting in the parking lot for Elliot to finish his business, when the door opened behind me, a rush of cold air nipping at my neck.
"Hey, pretty lady..."
My eyes widened as I turned around.
The Jack guy was advancing, his red, puffed-out face complimenting his popped out vein.
"Wanna have some fun? I'm in a pretty pissed off mood and you look like you've got nothing better to do..." Jack slurred. He was easily thirty years old, with a slanted face and a jagged scar reaching from his eye all the way down to his chin. His plain shirt was ripped at the sleeves, revealing arms that were easily bigger than my head. I had a feeling Derrick wasn't the only one of his victims.
"Uh, I'm waiting for someone," I forced myself to stay calm, stepping backward. But it didn't help that Jack was stepping closer. And closer. And closer.
"Doesn't matter... they can join us too," he snarled hungrily as he smiled, displaying his two rows of yellowing teeth, one of them missing. My heart started hammering in my chest. I should've gotten out of there the minute Jack started screaming.
"Sir, I'm not really interested, so please, can you leave me alone?" I said, much more forcefully this time.
"Oh, you poor thing, you actually think you have a choice." His eyes grazed all over me and I felt violated. Then, I started to make a break for it, and if it weren't for him grabbing my forearm and nearly yanking it out of its socket, I would've made it too.
"Let go of me, let go!" I shouted, wanting to kick at him. But both of his arms wrapped around me now, as he tugged on me, his smelling of alcohol.
"Elliot! Elliot!" I started shrieking, my cries disappearing in the morning wind.
I thrashed my arms around but Jack's grip was abnormally tight, no match against my noodle arms. Oh god. Oh god, I was really going to die. "Elliot, help! Where are you?!"
"Shut up," Jack growled in my ear. I was crying now. I didn't want him, I wasn't interested.
I could hear a loud rumbling now, what sounded like a lawnmower mixed in with a blender. Motorcycles. People. That meant witnesses. They were behind us in the parking lot, and I would've screamed more if someone hadn't yelled,
"Hey! Let go of her!" a man's voice shouted from somewhere I couldn't see.
Jack didn't have time to react, because suddenly his head came crashing into my shoulder as something – or someone – hit him hard behind his skull. He cursed, crumpling to the ground and releasing his tight hold on me. I stumbled before tripping over my own feet as I watched in paralyzed fear.
A man I didn't recognize what punching Jack squarely in the face, as blood sputtered from his mouth.
"You son of a --!" Another punch, followed by another. And another. "She's a kid, you pervert!" the man bellowed before taking the neckline of Jack's shirt and shoving him away to his car. "Leave or the cops are gonna be called!"
Jack didn't have to be told twice. His eye was bruised and already blackening, a steady stream of blood pouring from his nose. I didn't feel the least bit sorry as I watched him grapple for his rusty pickup truck. He peeled away, glaring at me with his bloody face before his pickup truck disappeared from sight.
Stunned, I couldn't move. His touch was still on my arms, and it took a while before I figured out I was trembling. Oh god, I was close to being infiltrated by that horrid piece of man. Where the hell was Elliot?
"Vienna! Vienna!"
Elliot came bounding from the trees. He was around me in an instant, and I felt guilty for embracing him, wherever Samantha was, but I was too rattled and shaken up for it to matter. I crashed into him in a running, breathing hard and heavy against his rising chest, his arms around my waist, his touch nothing like Jack's.
"What the hell happened? You were screaming, I was in the trees, but I couldn't – I'm sorry – is this guy bothering you?" He started to peel himself away from me and confronting the man who actually saved me. Elliot narrowed his eyes at the mysterious man. "What were you doing to Vienna, huh? What were you—"
"Elliot, stop," I snapped at him, tugging at his arm. "He wasn't the one who tried to...take advantage of me."
"What?"
"Yeah, you should've seen it," I said coldly, my voice dripping with sarcasm. Before he had a chance to say anything more, I intervened. "This man is the one who saved me."
I didn't get a proper look at him before when he was punching the living daylights out of Jack, but he looked more like the tanned, brown-bearded, slightly large bellied forty-year-old version of Santa Claus – if Santa wore a leather jacket and biker's gloves.
"I'm Ryder – and think nothing of it," he breathed, smiling as if nothing had happened. "He deserved the beating."
"Vienna, what exactly—"
"I'm Vienna, and this is Elliot, and I can't thank you enough for getting that creep away from me," I said as quickly as I could, almost running out of breath. "Seriously. Thank you."
"Not a problem, just here to help," Ryder nodded. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but are you two lost? There's not a car in sight, and you look like you haven't bathed in days."
"Two days, actually," Elliot muttered quietly, standing much too close next to me, his eyes wandering over to see if I was still in one piece. Inside, I was still wondering angrily where he was during the Jack Encounter, but I didn't say anything. I wasn't very good at saying things. It usually ended badly, or uncomfortably when it came to Elliot, I just know it.
"We're lost," I admitted to Ryder. "Stranded actually."
Ryder opened his mouth to speak, but a low rumble stopped him. Suddenly, a wave of motorcycles started pouring into the parking lot of the liquor store. They all resembled Ryder with their black everything; sunglasses, leather jacket, knee-high boots. There were roughly ten of them, all parking their various large Harley Davidsons around Ryder's own motorcycle.
"Woah..." Elliot murmured through the heavy noise, a symphony of metal grinding against engine parts.
"Dad!" someone shouted from the group. "What are ya doin in a liquor store'? We're wasting daylight! This is no time for drinking."
A boy about our age hopped off his bike with ease, his face concealed by his large, black wraparound helmet with a glass covering his eyes and the sun bouncing off his fitted black jacket.
"Who are they?" he asked as he caught a glimpse of us.
Ryder patted his son's shoulder and waved to us. "Eli, this is Vienna and uh..."
"Elliot," Elliot added.
"Elliot. Yes," Ryder grinned. "This is my son, Eli."
That was the moment where Eli shook off the helmet, running a hand through his hair to get it in its proper place after having a bad case of hat – er, helmet – hair. I took in the sight of the boy in front of me with surprising ease – he wasn't exactly hard on the eyes, and looked nothing like Ryder. His dark hair jaded in the burning daylight that reminded us of the time we were wasting. His eyes that were dark enough to hide his pupils, if he even had any. It took me a while before I realized I was staring.
He noticed it too.
"Pleased to meet ya'll," he said deeply in a Southern accent, extending a hand to me.
I casually shook it, inserting a small smile. His eyes lingered on me a little too long for comfort, but honestly, I didn't mind. The only thing I was minding right now was how I hadn't brushed my teeth in a day. Kinda gross.
"Dad, we're gonna be late for the convention," Eli said to his side in an irritated voice.
"I know, son, just – these folks need our help. This young lady over here was nearly kidnapped by a man and would've gotten away with it if it weren't for my stepping in," he beamed proudly. I ignored Elliot's blank stare as he mouthed 'kidnapped?' in an awestruck way; he couldn't believe it. Maybe he should've been there.
"Really, Mister Ryder, you don't need to offer us anything, you've truly done enough," I started.
"Nonsense. I'm sure we could give you a lift! Where ya'll headed?"
"Wichita Falls, Texas," I nodded. "But we're only stopping there to get a car, then we're headed to California for my graduation."
Ryder thought this over.
"Well, we're on our way to a Harley Davidson convention in Burkburnett Texas, about a couple miles away from Wichita Falls. It's going to be one heck of a party!" he bellowed in laughter. "Maybe you could hitch a ride along with us. It's not too far off from where you're headed. Only, there's a catch."
"A-A catch?" Elliot repeated.
"See, Eli's mom lives in Albuquerque, and I don't really trust him enough to go by himself after the convention."
"Dad!" Eli was appalled.
"So I was wondering, since you two are headed to California, would you mind dropping him off there if you have chance?"
This was my problem: when someone asked me for a favor, I could never say no. I couldn't place my tongue on the roof of my mouth and form a circle with my lips and say the one syllable. And since Ryder had saved my life and probably by V card, I couldn't refuse; it was out of the question.
"Done, he can come along with us."
"Wait, what?"
"Really?"
Eli and Elliot both said them in unison at the same time, confused looks on their faces. I gave Elliot an I'll-explain-later-you-don't-understand-how-much-I-owe-Ryder look and ignore him.
"Fantastic," Ryder beamed, his face lit up like a Christmas tree. "I'll go get a bike for you two and we should be on our way."
"Vienna," Elliot urged, but I spoke to Eli at the same time he said so.
"Welcome aboard the Misfortunate Express," I said him.
He didn't look too thrilled to be having appointed with two babysitters, considering he was a year older than me and about Elliot's age, but he sighed, tugging at his biker's gloves,
"This is going to be one hell of a trip."
- x -
[ a / n ] since i sprained my ankle, i got to stay home today and write this whole chapter up especially for you guys, since your wonderful amazing fabulous support has gotten TMH to 27k!! that's unbelievable! thank you so very much, and i know, this chapter isn't up to par and it was kinda blah and i was anxious about posting it, so before i questioned everything and overthought again, i didn't want you guys to wait so here it is.
please do vote - c o m m m e n t - share,
thank you so very much for reading this! ily. <3
[ ELI IS ON THE SIDE ]